Qasidat al-Burda

The “Poem of the Mantle” is an ode of praise for the prophet Muhammad, composed by the eminent Sufi, Imam al-Busiri, of Alexandria. The poem, whose full title is al-Kawakib ad-Durriya fi Madh Khayr al-Bariya (“Celestial Lights in Praise of the Best of Creation”), is famous mainly in the Sunni Muslim world, and it is memorized and recited in congregations, and its verses decorate the walls of public buildings and mosques.